The Effects of External and Internal Focus of Attention on Upper Volleyball Serve

Abstract

Previous studies have reported that focus of attention plays an important role in improving performance in a variety of motor skills. The purpose of the study was to compare the effectiveness of instructional feedback based on external or internal focus of attention on performing the volleyball serve. Participants (n=66; age: 17 -27 years old) healthy male secondary school and undergraduate students were recruited. Participants were randomly assigned to either external, internal focus or control groups (n= 22 each). After the pre test of performing five overhead volleyball serves, nine sessions of practice based on the groups’ focus of attention were conducted before the post test. A 3 group x 2 tests with repeated measures on the second factor analysis of variance was used to analyze the data. There was a main effect between groups F (2, 63) =12.9, p<0.05. There was an interaction effect between test and groups F (2, 63) =59.2 p<0.05. In the pretest the internal focus (IF) group scored (M=6.5 points, SD=2.0), the external focus (EF) group (M=7.0 points, SD=2.0) and control group (M=7.1, SD=2.4). The post-test scores for the IF group (M=7.1, SD=2.1), EF group (M=12.2, SD=1.7) and the control group (M=7.2, SD=3.2). This result demonstrated that external focus of attention was significantly more efficient in assisting the learning of a motor skill than the internal focus. We recommend that the coaches provide external focus of attention instructions to enhance performance in sports skills.